[Suggestion] Community feedback threads for new releases
It has been great seeing all the new functionality being rolled out in recent releases. Usually I notice these in the app and then head over to the discussion boards here to check out the release details, see what feature request tickets have been recently updated or commented on; things of that nature. And that got me wondering - given that the 'New release thread' is being used exclusively to announce updates and new features and is locked for user comments, would there be some value in creating community feedback/discussion threads for each release to get UX/usability feedback directly from users? Perhaps a category for release discussion threads with a single thread for each release? Currently, aside from the 'General' discussions, there's not really a location for discussion around recently implemented features/releases or feedback of that nature.
Personally, I'd love release threads where we can provide additional perspective on changes/new features and how to create a more enjoyable and frictionless user experience. This would also provide a conveniently consolidated location where feedback on a specific set of features was provided by the userbase, for consideration in future UX improvement efforts.
Comments
Thanks for this. I want to keep the release thread clean and just have the announcements.
For the feedback, I really don't mind people opening new threads. TBH I'd prefer separate threads for different issues/topics, rather than grouping stuff by release.
I prefer not to over-engineer community, rather form the community around the norms that develop. What is the advantage of having prescribed threads for each release?
That's fair, just thought I'd throw the idea out. I think the advantages it would bring are more explicit openness to feedback on changes and to have feedback on new features or changes more consolidated rather than spread across multiple posts, which is mostly an organizational thing.
When new features roll in or features I commonly use change I'm often at a loss for where exactly to express what I like and what I feel could continue to evolve and improve. Creating a post just to say "It's great being able to add whole albums to a playlist without clearing my queue" or "it takes me more clicks to add to my current queue and I don't really use playlists so this change only negatively impacted my user experience" doesn't feel like it fits in the feature requests or bugs sections, but I can see how those could just go in a general post and hang out there. And I'm definitely bringing my own background in product mgmt into things by wanting that kind of direct feedback and organization, so if you'd prefer things happen organically I get that.
In my experience, sometimes having the option to provide any feedback results in less input than explicitly saying "what's the feedback on this feature?" But again, it's just a matter of preference.
Thanks for reading and providing your perspective, I appreciate you being active in these forums and taking our input seriously!
I think the examples you cite are fine as discrete threads, they are atomic things we can improve (it's also great to hear individual improvements called out!)
I agree about having a CTA for feedback - maybe I should occasionally slip that in (having too much boilerplate text also means that boilerplate gets ignored, though). I've added that to the process.